• Supermarket recycling

Supermarket & High Street Retailer Recycling

You can now take back soft plastics to the plastic bag collection points at most major supermarkets for recycling. These soft plastic items include peelable film lids, cereal bags, fruit & veg bags and nets, and food pouches.

For online shopping deliveries, many supermarkets also allow you to hand your unwanted bags back to the driver for recycling.

Supermarkets are constantly changing what recycling they will take so follow the links below to get the latest information for your local supermarket.

Tesco supermarket recycling

Tesco

“Shoppers can now return all their soft plastic packaging to recycling points at every large Tesco store in the UK”

Items can include: Bread bags, Fruit and vegetable packaging, Crisp packets and Salad bags.

More Information
Sainsburys supermarket recycling

Sainsburys

“You can now recycle more flexible plastic bags, pouches and wrapping here. All items should be clean and free of food and sticky labels removed where possible”

Available in all Sainsburys stores.

Sainsburys recycling
More Information
Coop supermarket recycling

The Coop

“All Co-op own brand food packaging can be recycled. Limitations may apply to third party packaging. While we will accept soft plastics from any retailer or brand, we cannot guarantee that such third party packaging will be recycled. However, the majority of third party soft plastic will be made from materials which will go to be recycled within our scheme.”

A full list of what Coop can and can’t take is HERE.

More Information & Find Your Nearest Store
M&S

M&S

“Customers can recycle plastic from any product, including those not bought at M&S, by placing them into our Plastic Recycling Units at their nearest stores. M&S will take care of the rest.”

Scheme is available in 100 M&S owned stores.

M&S soft plastic recycling
More Information & Find Nearest Store
Superdrug

Superdrug

Within selected stores, Superdrug can take in a range of items that can be tricky to recycle including:

Beauty Empties: Superdrug have a partnership with Maybelline and TerraCycle, and can now recycle beauty empties from ANY brand. Give them a quick clean and drop them in a collection box. To find the nearest participating store select Makeup Recycling Bins. Please note, they do not currently recycle: Makeup brushes, Nail varnish or Aerosols.

Old Electrical Products: When purchasing any electrical item from Superdrug, they’ll recycle the one you’re replacing, free of charge.

They will also recycle batteries at any Superdrug store.

Superdrug Terracycle makeup recycling
More Information & Find Nearest Store
Boots

Boots

Boots have created a ‘Recycle at Boots scheme’ where you can bring your empty beauty, health, wellness and dental products, from any brand, that can’t be recycled at home.

The scheme is aimed at hard-to-recycle beauty, healthcare and wellness products that cannot be put in the council home recycling. Usually this is because they are:

  • Too small (travel minis, samples, mascaras, etc)
  • Made of composite materials (make-up palettes, compacts, lipsticks, etc)
  • Made from non-recyclable materials (toothpaste tubes, lotion pumps, etc)

They have also provided an incentive so when you visit one of their participating stores and bring five empty products to one of the in-store recycle bins, they’ll give you a total of 500 Boots Advantage Card points when you spend £10 or more. They’ll also track how many empties you bring back so you can see the positive impact you’re making to the planet.

Medical Blister Packs:
Larger Boots stores accept empty medical blister packs for recycling, including those made of mixed plastic and foil. Packs made only of foil can be placed in your kerbside recycling bin.

More Information & Find Nearest Store

Soft Plastic Recycling

Other Supermarkets & Retailers

Lidl, Aldi, Asda, Waitrose and Iceland don’t currently offer recycling instore. However, some Aldi and Waitrose branches do provide collection points for soft plastics. All of these supermarkets also have other initiatives in place, compostable packaging, refill stations, plastic reduction and plastic bottle returns. Click on the hyperlinks for each supermarket to find out more.

Electrical Recycling

Never bin your old electricals or batteries. And don’t put them in your general recycling bin. Everything with a plug, battery or cable must be recycled separately.

This website can be used to find local battery and electrical recycling points which many retailers support.

What can be recycled where

Based on our latest research, we have compiled a list of key packaging items and where they can be recycled. Click on the image opposite to download and stick on your fridge.

If we have missed something out, please help us keep this page up-to-date by emailing

Download Leaflet
What can be recycled where
local food

Shop Smart

Here are a few more tips for shopping smart and sustainably:

  • Try to support local growers and food producers reducing food miles, packaging and supports our local economy.
  • Reducing our waste is better than recycling try to buyloose fruit and veg, take your own containers to buy cheese, fish etc over the counters.
  • Some shops are now also offering refill services, we’ve found some HERE that are worth looking at. Refilling old containers rather than buying a completely new product can often save money too.
  • Some more tips on sustainable shopping HERE
council recycling

Council Recycling

As well as the regular kerbside collection recycling, West Sussex County Council also offer recycling of Hard Plastics, Coffee Pods, Textiles, Large Furniture Items, Garden Waste.

Learn more
Single use plastic recycling

Single-Use Plastics

There are many items that WSCC can’t take, Sussex Green Living have several recycling schemes for the hard-to-recycle items. Click here to find out what we offer and where.

Learn more

Printer Cartridges & More

We raise money for various charities by recycling printer cartridges, milk bottle tops, textiles and mobiles. Click here to find out what we offer and where.

Learn more
reuse

Don’t Recycle!

Have you thought about reusing your packaging and refilling? Or can your item be repaired. Find out more about refills and repair cafes in your area.